Denise Valoff, Asst. Wine Maker's Page

"Playing Winemaker for the Night" . . .

We hope that all of you had as much fun as we did at the Paesano Event last Saturday night. Dan Kleck did a great job of leading the blending seminar and describing the varietal characterisitics of each wine that was available for blending. It gave us a chance, to give you a glimpse of how the DFV winemaking team creates our Bordeaux blends and how much fun it can be. It is always nice to share the fruits of our labor and help educate the public on what g… Continue

A new upcoming 2006 blend consisting of 50% Petite Verdot, 32% Merlot, and 18% Cabernet Sauvignon is to be bottled in the Spring of 2009. On the nose, this blend consisted of caramel, dark fruit, chocolate, and spice with a cherry-cola finish. Once we were done with our evaluations as we looked around the table everyone was trying to revive some sort of moisture back into their palates. If you love tannins, this is a wine you will have to try! It will be a good wine to age and enjoy with steak.… Continue

Greetings and Welcome to the premier winemaking blog for Donati Family Vineyard. My name is Denise Valoff and I have been with DFV since December of 2007. I am the assistant winemaker, located in Templeton, CA. Though I was born and raised in Visalia California, I have made the Central Coast my home for many years.

I started at Meridian Vineyards as a lab technician for four years while going to Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. After working my first harvest at Meridian, there was no turning back- I… Continue